The Court of Appeal has dismissed Brian Rattigan’s appeal against convictions for possessing diamorphine, including possession for sale or supply. It rejected all eight grounds and concluded that his trial was satisfactory and his convictions safe.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Edwards on 10 October 2018, concerned convictions entered by the Special Criminal Court in February 2013. Rattigan received concurrent 17-year prison sentences on two counts and a concurrent five-year sentence on a third, all running from 1 June 2008. The appeal judgment did not alter those sentences. He had been acquitted of two separate charges of possessing mobile phones in prison without permission.
The prosecution case arose from a May 2005 search of a house at 9 Hughes Road South, Walkinstown, where gardaí found diamorphine, phones and other items. The Special Criminal Court accepted that a text message sent from a phone associated with Rattigan gave directions about dividing and distributing the drugs. It also found that the messages and notes supported the conclusion that he controlled the drugs, although they were found at the house rather than in his physical possession. The defence called no evidence at trial.
Rattigan challenged the warrants used to search the house, his prison cell and another property; the admission of evidence from a Nokia phone; the expertise of a Garda witness on drug values and terminology; the absence of purity testing; and whether the evidence proved possession. The Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s rulings on each issue. It said concerns about possible interference with the Nokia phone went to the weight the trial court could give the evidence, rather than its admissibility.
On the value issue, the court distinguished the Supreme Court’s decision in *The People (DPP) v Connolly*. It said evidence in this case allowed the trial court to conclude that street prices for diamorphine depended on the weight or volume sold, regardless of purity. The seized powder weighed 4,973.6 grams, and the court held that the evidence supported the finding that its value exceeded the statutory €13,000 threshold for the first count.
The Court of Appeal also found evidence supporting the Special Criminal Court’s conclusion that Rattigan had control of the drugs and rejected the proposed alternative explanations. It dismissed the appeal.